The new Miss USA said her mom didn't let her do child pageants because they can 'potentially be damaging'

• Miss Utah, Noelia Voigt, was crowned the new Miss USA on Friday night.
• Voigt told Insider that she wanted to compete in pageants as a child, but her mom wouldn't let her.

Noelia Voigt, the new Miss USA, has been competing in pageants since she was 16.

Voigt had wanted to start competing in pageants as a child, but she told Insider that there was a big reason why her mother wouldn't let her.

It was Voigt's mom who first showed her the world of pageants, and she remembers growing up watching Miss USA and Miss Universe.

"My mom is from Venezuela, and over there, pageants are their Super Bowl and Olympics — it's a huge deal," Voigt said. "So I had always wanted to do pageants from a really young age."

But Voigt said her mom was "really protective" and didn't let her jump right into competing.

"She didn't want me to do it at that age I was initially asking her — I was younger than 10 years old — because, depending on the pageant that you're entering at that age, it can be potentially damaging to a young girl if they don't end up winning," Voigt said. "Then they have this negative association with it, and they think that it has something to do with them."

"My mom didn't want that for me," she added. "So she waited until I was old enough to understand that, if I didn't win, it's not a reflection of me or who I am."

Voigt said her mom wanted to find an organization that was "big on community service," which led them to Miss USA.

When she was 16, Voigt entered her first local pageant and won.

"I went up to the state level, and I've actually been first runner-up three times," Voigt said. "It's been a journey of perseverance and really not giving up."

"It could have been very easy for me, all those times, to just say, 'I can't do this anymore, I'm so frustrated,'" she added. "But instead, every time I got first runner-up, it was more fuel to the fire for me to keep on going. And I think that hard work really paid off. It's really special to look back on my journey and see where I'm at now."

Voigt was crowned onstage at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino in Reno, Nevada, on Friday night, becoming the first Miss Utah to win the competition since 1960. She will now represent the United States at the Miss Universe pageant on November 18 in El Salvador.

As the newest Miss USA, Voigt hopes to show people what it really means to "be a pageant girl today."

"We're really wanting to show people what the definition of pageantry is, and educate them that it is different now than it was years ago," Voigt said. "If we want to stay relevant and continue to garner people's support and show people the positive impacts that we make, we can't wait for them to come to us — we have to go to them."

"So I'm excited to continue to have those conversations with people," she added. "And see what we can do to continue to make a difference, to continue to make an impact, and to connect with them."